Lunar shots

[squitty]

Hi,
Hope this is in the right forum?

I am looking for a tutorial/guide on taking lunar shots please.
Thank you.
Neil

[foodpoison]

The best thing to do is search on this forum using the search option on photos that have been taken of the moon etc, then ask the topic starter how they did it.

[squitty]

Hi Foodpoison,
I did do a search but could not find anything. Maybe its the way I search?:)

[CT]

Use a tripod.

Focus manually

Set 100 ISO and try a shutter speed of 1/125th and an aperture of f8 for starters - adjust as necessary.

Release the shutter with a remote release or use the delayed timer to avoid touching the camera and getting camera shake.

The moon is a lot brighter than you think, and better, more detailed shots are usually obtained with a partial moon rather than a full one.

Don't forget to post the shots. ;)

[squitty]

Hi CT,
Thank you for the reply. Will try what you say and will post the results.

Neil

[dolomitefan]

If it helps I found that spot metering the moon was the way to go or else it burnt out. I have some on my album if you follow the link below. They were taken with a mere 70-210mm tripod mounted, but used the timer. I think there is a mirror lock up function on my camera that can also help with shake but can't figure it out at the moment.

[CT]

With the 40D you set the mirror lockup function via the menu. Once it's set, the first press of the shutter flips the mirror up- the second press takes the shot and the mirror comes back down. It stays that way till you disable mirror lockup in the menu.

One of the nice things about the 40D is you can set mirror lockup to one of the 3 custom positions on the mode dial, then it's only a twist of the dial away to reset it at any time.

[squitty]

If it helps I found that spot metering the moon was the way to go or else it burnt out. I have some on my album if you follow the link below. They were taken with a mere 70-210mm tripod mounted, but used the timer. I think there is a mirror lock up function on my camera that can also help with shake but can't figure it out at the moment.

Hi,
Would that be Partial metering on the 400d?
Thanks
Neil

[bigsteve]

I think it's been posted before, but I find http://www.adidap.com/2006/12/06/moon-exposure-calculator/ rather useful.

[dolomitefan]

No the 40D has spot metering linked to the active focusing point. Partial metering will be helpful though. At least you can see the results straight away. See what the meter gives but as a guess it will probably get confused with all the black around the moon (unless you have a monster lens) so i'd go down a stop or two and see how you get on. Definately make sure you use a sensible aperture as mentioned above or else the camera will just pick a wide open one which isn't very helpful on most lenses.

[Dan Leach]

Buy a cheap telescope with a camera port :)

[squitty]

Buy a cheap telescope with a camera port :)

Any suggestions Dan?

Thanks
Neil

[squitty]

Posted the results in General photo sharing.
Neil